The final 50 chimpanzees used by the U.S. government for medical testing are being retired to a sanctuary, finishing a long process of phasing out their use as test subjects. The National Institutes of Health retired around 300 chimpanzees in 2013 after deciding that they were unnecessary; the group of 50 is the final batch to be sent to live out their lives at Louisiana's Chimp Haven.
Chimpanzees had formerly been considered useful for medical researchers because they're mankind's closest genetic relatives. However, scientists now have the ability to genetically modify other animals, like rats and mice, to make them better stand-ins for people, essentially rendering tests on chimpanzees increasingly unnecessary.
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